Effingham officials warn of Facebook scams

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WJCL) – Facebook calls it a friend request, but officials with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office are warning that the person on the other end could be far from friendly – and could cost users thousands of dollars.

“We have received complaints that a person claiming to be a Facebook administrator sends you a friend request,” ECSO spokesman David Ehsanipoor said. “Once you accept the request, the person send you message saying you won the Facebook lottery.”

And that’s when the scam begins.

“The person will email you telling you to contact FedEx delivery online to claim you money, but the catch is you have to pay $350 in shipping and processing fees to get access to the money,” he said.

And that’s not the only variant of the scam out there, Ehsanipoor said. Another version has users getting a private message from, yet again, what appears to be a Facebook administrator. But this time the person is asking the user to verify their password. With that information the person could gain access to your private information on Facebook.

Other scams involve people posing as friends, Ehsanipoor said.

“They do this by setting up fake Facebook accounts with your friend’s pictures and then messaging you about the lottery winnings,” Ehsanipoor said.

Facebook has several recommendations for keeping accounts secure from hacks and scams the foremost of which is simple – think before you click.

A page established by Facebook advises users never click suspicious links, even if they come from a friend or a company the user knows. The same goes for downloading files unless the user is absolutely sure what they are downloading.

Other tips include watching out for fake pages, apps or games, being wary of friend requests from unknown users, picking a strong unique password, never giving out log-in info, never logging in from a third party site and updating internet browsers frequently.